Archipelago Learning Shareholders Approve Acquisition by PLATO Learning

PLATO Learning, a leading provider of online education solutions for kindergarten through adult learners, announced today that shareholders of Archipelago Learning (NASDAQ: ARCL), an award-winning software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider of supplemental education products, voted to adopt the acquisition agreement the two companies entered into on March 5, 2012. The vote took place on Wednesday at a special meeting of Archipelago Learning shareholders in Dallas, Texas.

Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, holders of outstanding shares of common stock of Archipelago Learning will receive $11.10 per share. The transaction became official earlier today after regulatory approval and satisfaction of the closing conditions.

“We appreciate the endorsement of Archipelago Learning shareholders and look forward to offering an increasingly robust suite of effective online education solutions to schools and districts who share our commitment to improving student achievement,” said Vin Riera, PLATO Learning chief executive officer. “This acquisition is a very significant step toward providing the most comprehensive set of solutions available and being a single resource for meeting the online learning needs of schools.”

The acquisition broadens the comprehensive solutions portfolio of PLATO Learning and aligns with its goal of providing every learner, regardless of circumstance, the opportunity to succeed. PLATO Learning is backed by leading middle market private equity firm Thoma Bravo, LLC.

“Thoma Bravo is excited to be bringing together two innovators in educational technology,” said Holden Spaht, a partner at Thoma Bravo. “This acquisition will be a tremendous benefit to PLATO Learning customers striving to offer effective, personalized online learning to students of all ages and abilities.”

About PLATO Learning, Inc.
PLATO Learning is a leading provider of high-value, comprehensive education technology solutions with a focus on learner achievement leading to academic and career success. With more than 50 years of experience driving significant advances in the industry, PLATO offers a wide variety of innovative solutions spanning a multitude of program areas to facilitate 21st century teaching and learning. For more information on PLATO Learning, visit plato.com.

About Archipelago Learning, Inc.
Archipelago Learning is a leading subscription-based, software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider of supplemental education products used by approximately 14 million students in nearly 38,700 schools throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Archipelago provides standards-based instruction, practice, assessment and productivity tools that improve the performance of educators and students via web-based platforms. For more information on Archipelago Learning, visit archlearning.com.

About Thoma Bravo, LLC
Thoma Bravo is a leading private equity investment firm building on a 30+ year history of providing equity and strategic support to experienced management teams and growing companies. The firm has continued to apply the concept of industry consolidation investing, which seeks to create value through the strategic use of acquisitions to accelerate business growth. Thoma Bravo invests across multiple industries, with a particular focus in enterprise and infrastructure software and financial and business services, and works in partnership with management to implement its operating and consolidation expertise to build long-term value. The firm currently manages a series of private equity funds representing almost $4 billion of equity commitments. In software, Thoma Bravo has completed 53 add-on acquisitions across 23 platform companies with total annual earnings of approximately $1 billion. For more information, visit www.thomabravo.com.